Kendrick Lamar and James Harden Visit Alaska High School

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Rockets guard James Harden and Kendrick Lamar stopped by Bethel Regional High School in Alaska to celebrate the school’s winning of the “Future Forward Challenge” by Get Schooled, a non-profit organization devoted to improving graduation rates and college readiness for high school students across the nation. Bethel High succeeded in getting the most students involved with college prep activities. Harden and K-Dot served as the school’s principals-for-a day as their reward.

“I was really excited to find out we had won because everybody thinks that Bethel is just a small town and most of the kids aren’t going to grow up to do anything with themselves because of the lack of opportunities that there is here,” one student said. “But us winning this competition proved to everyone that we’re not just a small town. We can do a lot, we can beat huge schools with so many kids, and we were able to accomplish more than them.”

Harden and Kendrick engaged with the students for a panel discussion and photo-ops.

“In high school, work on being a leader now,” Kendrick told the students. “If you’re a leader now, you’re ahead of the game basically.”